VIENNA, March 3 (Reuters) - Among the "bad banks" that have
emerged since the global crisis, Austria's Heta Asset Resolution
stands out as a spectacular failure, brought down by setbacks
ranging from the demands of accounting rules to ailing Balkan
economies and a Swiss decision to let the franc surge.

Questions are swirling over how things could have gone so
wrong so quickly at Heta, carved out just last year
from the lender Hypo Alpe Adria whose demise has already caused
Austria's worst post-war financial scandal.

Now Heta has revealed a capital hole of 7.6 billion euros
($8.5 billion), making supervisors take control this week and
suspend its debt payments.

Other bad banks, notably in Ireland, have taken over assets
from troubled lenders based on worst-case scenarios and sold
many off at higher prices. But with Heta, which holds the assets
of just one lender rather than a range as in Ireland or Spain,
worst-case assumptions have proved grossly overoptimistic.
Continuación...